The Evolution of Emiley Kennedy

Addition by subtraction.

That was the game plan Texas A&M softball head coach Trisha Ford laid out for Emiley Kennedy heading into her junior year. The left-hander would take a step toward becoming an elite pitcher by eliminating her curveball in the fall. 

“I took away her curveball, which is her favorite pitch,” Ford said. “Like she was extremely attached to that thing. She had her 24-hour freakout, I usually let her have her 24 hours, and then she was kind of like ‘Okay, I can do this.’”

While Kennedy was already a solid pitcher and enjoying plenty of success, Ford felt like she could take huge strides toward being an All-American caliber player with this adjustment. The thing that would make her elite would be dominating with rise balls up the zone accompanied by a mixture of drop balls and changeups to perplex the opposition.

“Every great pitcher can elevate, have sink to the ball and then change speed,” Ford said. “So that’s what we wanted her to concentrate on. She spent a lot of time all summer on her changeup and I think she came back with it in a really good spot.”

Ford had a couple allies who helped her make the tough sell. Her parents Pat and Christine, both lifetime educators, helped Kennedy process Coach’s request.

“She’s got really good parents at home,” Ford said. “I think it’s important because when she calls home and says ‘Coach is taking this away from me’ you have somebody on the other end who not only listens to them but also says, ‘Well it’s probably for a good reason. Let’s see what it looks like.’”

It made for an uncomfortable autumn. She spent her time fine tuning her fastball, developing her changeup and reintroducing her drop ball, not always to desired results.

“It was a little bit of a shock at the beginning,” Kennedy said. “The fall was a little rough for me, but I think not having my curveball in the fall has made my other pitches 100-percent better.”

While the process seemed foreign to Kennedy, she stuck with them. The Woodlands, Texas, native put her full trust in Ford who is not only her head coach, but her pitching coach.

“When I came in last year I said, ‘You’re going to be a rise ball pitcher,’” Ford said. “Then in the fall I said, ‘We’re going to insert the drop ball again’ and you could tell she’s like ‘What the heck are you doing crazy lady?’ But she’s trusted the process and really worked hard to get through the rough patches.”

Kennedy and the Aggies are now reaping the benefits of the change. Just three weeks into the season, the southpaw is 7-0 with two saves, a 0.64 ERA and 56 strikeouts in nine appearances. Kennedy has yielded just one extra-base hit, a double, in her 43.2 innings. She boasts an enviable 0.66 WHIP to go with a .133 opponent batting average.

“You’ve seen her ability to go up and down right now is amazing,” Ford said. “Last year she was over the plate too much, which she could get way with occasionally because she throws over 70 (mph). But now she’s throwing over 70 and spreading the plate. That’s a nightmare for hitters.”

As is often the case in sports, the results can sometime belie the effort. In her first outing of the 2024 season, Kennedy was touched up by Lehigh hitters despite picking up the win. She yielded four runs, three earned, on three hits and two walks while striking out three in 3.0 innings. 

“She maybe didn’t have the results she wanted,” Ford said. “But I told her she was actually throwing fine; she just didn’t get these few pitches up where they need to be. I told her once she got them up in the spots, she’ll get swings and misses.”

Her numbers after the shaky season debut have been stellar. She owns a 0.22 ERA in the eight outings, allowing just one earned run in 40.2 innings.

“I’m really confident going into the circle right now,” Kennedy said. “I think I can beat almost everyone. My mentality helps me out a lot.”

The meat of the season is still on the horizon with the SEC slate quickly approaching, but Kennedy has already risen to the occasion against challenging tests. She earned SEC Pitcher of the Week recognition following her four performances at the Campbell/Cartier Classic. She earned two wins and two saves in four appearances in San Diego, pitching 16.2 innings with only one run allowed and 23 strikeouts. Most notably, in her two appearances against No. 14 Oregon she struck out 15 batters in 9.0 innings.

“Against Oregon, Coach Ford said, ‘You’re on a roll, keep it going,” Kennedy said. “I think mentally she keeps me where I need to be. I can’t worry about outside factors. It’s about keeping that pace and just stay who I am. I have to take it one game at a time, one pitch at a time.”

Heading into her junior season was not the first time Kennedy had to make major modifications in Aggieland. The first came her freshman season. She arrived as a high school All-American who dominated her prep opponents. Now she was facing the most talented hitters in the most powerful conference.

“My freshman year I kind of didn’t know what was happening,” Kennedy said. “It was a big adjustment.”

Overall, her rookie numbers were solid. She was heavily relied upon, accounting for 37.2% of the Aggies’ innings in the circle. Kennedy posted a 13-11 mark with two saves, a 2.94 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 140.2 innings. But her performance took a dip in league play, posting a 1-8 record with 34 strikeouts and 33 walks in 51.2 innings.

The following year brought about more change, this time with her head coach. Ford was brought in to replace Jo Evans, the 26-year skipper of the Aggies. One of Ford’s most urgent tasks upon arriving was keeping Kennedy in College Station.

“She was my number one priority,” Ford said. “I thought we could put other pieces together behind her, but losing somebody of her caliber would have been devastating for the program as I transitioned in. She’s a left-hander that throws 70 and had loads of potential. I had heard she loved to compete. I just wanted to let her know who I was and how much I value pitching. She was going to have a coach who was going to work every day to help her develop into an elite pitcher.”

Ford may have put in much more work than was necessary to keep the southpaw around. Her heart was always in College Station. But Kennedy appreciated the effort.

“I’m an Aggie through and through,” Kennedy said. “I think as soon as Coach Ford got announced, she called me immediately and was like, ‘I want you on my team. I want you to play for me.’ Our attitudes are the same in a lot of areas so we get along well. She prioritizes pitching which is really good because I think sometimes people overlook that. The game starts and ends in the circle.”

Under the tutelage of Coach Ford, Kennedy’s performance saw an uptick in 2023. She posted a 12-5 record with three saves, a 2.47 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 119.0 innings. Her improvement was also seen in league play, posting a 3-3 record with one save with 37 strikeouts and 17 walks in 41.1 innings.

“I’ve learned you have to tread lightly that first year,” Ford said. “I felt like there was a big enough step to say, ‘You’re not a drop ball pitcher anymore. You’re going to be a rise ball pitcher.’ She did a great job handling that improvement and I think you saw her numbers improve in every category you could think of.”

After the 2023 campaign was over Kennedy felt like this would be her first time in college that everything would be the same and she would have a strong level of comfort. But Coach Ford had other plans.

“It’s my job to push her out of her comfort zone,” Ford said. “I told her, ‘This is where greatness happens.’ It’s going to suck, but at the end when this is all said and done, you have the potential to be an All-American-type pitcher. So what are we chasing – having a high level of comfort or becoming an All-American?”

Now, seemingly every week Kennedy is flashing those signs of being an All-American. Most recently, Kennedy was nearly flawless striking out a career-high 16 batters against UTSA, including six looking, while maintaining a no-hitter through the first seven innings. The lefty punched out at least two Roadrunners in seven of the eight innings. The lone UTSA hit came in the eighth inning and Kennedy picked up the victory thanks to Trinity Cannon’s walk-off grand slam.

With her effort she became the first Aggie to win conference pitcher of the week recognition in back-to-back weeks since Megan Gibson was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week twice in a row in March 2008. It’s a full-circle moment for Kennedy who had now Megan (Gibson) Loftin as her pitching coach her senior year at Lake Creek High School.

“It feels like Emiley is in a different frame of mind this year,” Ford said. “You can see it when you watch her throw. She’s a dog and I talked to her about that. Go out there and be who you are. I think our team loves playing behind her. She takes on challenges and she rises to the top.”